We were expecting a civilized and gracious meal, considering the location, the marketing hype and the many awards for food. However, what followed was almost comical if you forget that you're paying a significant amount for a three course luncheon for four, and in fact it was a very unpleasant dining experience. It began when we couldn't find the hotel on the last five miles of our journey so we rang reception. However, the receptionist didn't know the directions, which should have started alarm bells ringing. We finally found it and were ushered into the lounge area by a rather brusque gentleman (later we were astonished to discover he was the manager!). We had drinks and ordered our meal from the menu and shortly afterwards were ushered into the dining room. The long tablecloth did not disguise a quantity of old food and carpet fibres that was a bit offputting to say the least. We were the only guests dining on that day (7th October) so couldn't understand the long wait for bread as one of us has ordered soup. My husband decided to try and find someone in the kitchen as there was no-one else around. Eventually - our waiter for the day - the general manager, entered the dining room with a trolley laden with home baked bread. On bizarrely holding the bread with a spoon and cutting it, the whole thing flew off onto the grubby carpet! Swearing loudly, he then carried on serving the bread to us as if nothing had happened. Our first course arrived and my daughter had wild mushrooms with a raspberry sauce. Unfortunately, half way through she discovered a dark curly hair in the food! It naturally put her off eating the rest. Our waiter/manager assured us that we wouldn't be charged with for that item as he cleared the crockery and dropped something else! Summing up, we were dismayed at the complete lack of professionalism, there was no salt & pepper on the table, we had to ask, and combined with the other events that occurred none of us will ever return again. We travel and dine extensively both in the UK and abroad, and this is the worst example of bad management, care for guests and hygiene considerations that we have encountered.